WWDB

WWDB, 860 AM, is a daytime-only radio station based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania (in the Delaware Valley region near the city of Philadelphia) that broadcasts brokered programming and the satellite feed of ESPN Deportes Radio. It transmits from a tower site in nearby Eagleville, while studios and offices are located in the "555 Building" in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

The station was founded on December 6, 1926 as WFKD,^[1] and became WTEL in 1930. It began operating on the 860 frequency in the late 1950s; before that, it had shared time on 1340 with WHAT. WTEL was best known as a foreign-language broadcaster. In October 1998 the call letters were changed to WWDB,^[2] and the station began operating with a talk format as a companion station to WWDB-FM; some of the FM station's older personalities were moved to the AM station in an attempt to increase the FM's appeal in younger demographics without alienating older listeners. The strategy was not successful, and by February 2000 the WTEL call sign had returned^[3] and the station was programming gospel music. The gospel format lasted only until November 2000, when the call letters were changed back to WWDB^[4] and a business talk format was launched. Business talk, sometimes augmented with general-interest talk from syndicated personalities such as Don Imus and Mancow Muller, would be the station's format until the end of the broadcast day on August 1, 2010. ESPN Deportes Radio took over the schedule on the next day.

On June 13, 2011, WWDB began carrying a schedule of brokered programming previously heard on WNWR.^[5] The ESPN Deportes Radio feed is still heard on WWDB during unsold time periods.

The WWDB call letters, which stand for the names of former owners "William and Dolly Banks", were first used in Philadelphia at 96.5 on the FM band in the late 1960s. The station had previously been WHAT-FM; it operated with a jazz format that did not change when the call letters did. In the early 1970s, WWDB tried an adult contemporary format during some hours, then reverted to jazz full-time, then adopted a talk format in 1975. The talk format was one of the first successful ones on FM, lasting until November 2000.

WWDB's tower site is used by WKDN for its nighttime operations.

WWDB is a daytime only station because 860 AM is occupied by Class A, clear-channel station CJBC from Toronto, Canada, which broadcasts a francophone format.

References

1. ↑ http://jeff560.tripod.com/chrono1.html
2. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=74085&Callsign=WWDB
3. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=74085&Callsign=WWDB
4. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=74085&Callsign=WWDB
5. ↑ http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WWDB
• Radio-Locator Information on WWDB
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WWDB